The secrecy linked to the Security Service of Ukraine’s intelligence duties has enabled it to escape what almost all other officials have to do — publishing their electronic asset declarations.
SBU officials’ declarations are unavailable to the public and were also unavailable to the National Agency for Preventing Corruption until recently, because the SBU deems them state secrets.
However, critics argue that SBU officials are just trying to hide their ill-gotten wealth. SBU spokeswoman Olena Hitlianska declined to comment on the issue.
But the scale of incumbent SBU officials’ wealth becomes clear from the electronic declarations of former SBU officers, which are available to the public.
Even rank-and-file officials can boast extravagant possessions. The family of Dmytro Khrystosenko, an SBU pensioner in Lviv Oblast, have an 800-square-meter land plot, a 122-square-meter apartment worth Hr 575,547, an 82-square-meter apartment, and commercial real estate worth Hr 1.9 million with an area of 1,021 square meters. They also have a Hr 442,587 Volkswagen, a Hr 1 million BMW, Hr 239,226 on bank accounts, and $207,000 in cash.
SBU salaries can’t provide such wealth. While payroll is kept secret, representatives of the SBU’s Kyiv branch told Radio Liberty in 2015 that monthly salaries in their department range from Hr 4,000 to Hr 16,000.
The family of Roman Semenchenko, an ex-SBU official in Kyiv, have land plots with an area of 3,262 square meters, a 115.4-square-meter apartment, a 204-square-meter apartment, a 498-square-meter apartment and a 194-square-meter house. They also have a Hr 400,000 Skoda, a Hr 2.5 million Toyota, a Porsche Cayenne (with market equivalents worth Hr 1.4 million), and a Mercedes Benz (with market equivalents worth Hr. 2.6 million). They have $84,000, Hr 1.8 million and 27,000 euros in cash.
Some insights into the current SBU officials can be found in their old paper declarations. While being less informative compared to the electronic declarations, they still show the officials’ wealth.
According to SBU Chief Vasyl Hrytsak’s declaration for 2015, he has a 413-square-meter house and a Toyota (with market equivalents of Hr 1.3 million), while his deputy Vitaly Malikov’s family declared income from the sale of property worth Hr 759,960, income from business worth Hr 1.5 million and a Toyota whose market equivalents are worth Hr 355,000.
Hrytsak’s deputies Oleh Frolov and Vadym Poyarkov declared a Volkswagen Touareg and Toyota Land Cruiser, respectively. Their market equivalents are worth Hr 500,000 and Hr 900,000.
Meanwhile, Hrytsak’s wife Olga founded Olvia, a firm that supplies meat to state agencies, according to a 2015 Radio Liberty investigation.
Hrytsak’s deputies Vitaly Malikov and Oleg Frolov had acquired premium land plots from the state for free, Radio Liberty reported.
Malikov and his wife used to own several businesses, including in Crimea, according to a 2016 report by the Slidsvto.info show. Malikov and SBU spokeswoman Hitlianska denied that she owns businesses.
The common-law wife of SBU First Deputy Chief Pavlo Demchyna owns a $100,000 Range Rover, a $100,000 Mercedes Benz, a Hr 10 million luxury mansion, as well as land plots that Demchyna has not declared, according to a Slidstvo.info investigation released in March. Demchyna told Slidstvo.info that he regularly visited the mansion but was not living in it. He refused to explain who owns it and how the house’s purchase was financed. Radio Liberty has also produced investigations on the high-end cars of SBU officials in Kyiv. An investigation released in June listed such cars as a Volkswagen ($50,000), an Acura ($25,000) and a Toyota ($60,000).
